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Small Business Rate Relief

Introduced under the Local Government Act 2003, qualifying occupiers can get a reduction in charge from 1 April 2005

Eligible non-domestic properties with a rateable value of less than £5,000 will get 50% rate relief.
This will decrease on a sliding scale of 1% for every £100 of rateable value between £5,001 and £9,999. Bills will be calculated using the small business non-domestic rating multiplier.

Eligible properties with a rateable value from £10,000 to £14,999 fall within a ‘buffer zone’ and will also have their bills calculated using the small business non-domestic rating multiplier.

Eligibility Criteria

The property must be within the thresholds above.

Relief is only available to ratepayers with either

• one property, or
• one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties have rateable values less than £2,200 and the total value all the properties remains under the threshold (i.e. £15,000). The bills for the additional properties will be calculated using the standard non-domestic rating multiplier.

Ratepayers must apply to the Council for each chargeable financial year. The property must meet the requirements on 1 April of the relevant year. You can use the application form available here but it needs to be printed, signed and returned to the Non-Domestic Rates Section.

Calculation of the Bill - Changes through the Year

Relief is applied to one non-domestic property only.

The threshold (£15,000) is based on the location of the eligible property - not the location of the additional properties.
The bill is calculated for each chargeable day for which it remains eligible. As soon as a ratepayer fails to meet the criteria above, they are no longer due the relief.

 

Registration

Ratepayers must apply separately each year they are claiming relief.

Where the ratepayer is a person, the ratepayer must sign the application, and in any other case, i.e. a company, it must be signed by a person with authority to sign on behalf of the ratepayer.

Applications for a financial year can be made up to six months before the start of the chargeable year and up to six months after the financial year concerned.

If the rateable value is altered, applications can be made up to six months after the date of notification of the alteration.


Application Form

An application form is available in two formats. You can complete these on-line (or by hand) but it needs to be printed, signed and returned to the Non-Domestic Rates Section

Small Business Rate Relief Form (PDF Format)
Small Business Rate Relief Form (Word) Format)

Interaction with other Reliefs

If a ratepayer is eligible for charity relief or rural rate relief then they receive that relief rather than small business rate relief.
Transitional relief is applied before the small business rate relief is applied.

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If you require further information please contact the Non-Domestic Rates Section:

Telephone: 01304 872195
Fax: 01304 872104
Address: Non-Domestic Rates Section, Revenues and Benefits Division, Dover District Council, White Cliffs Business Park, Dover, Kent CT16 3PJ
E-mail: nndr@dover.gov.uk